


Princess Kaspbrak

by syndeyselmo



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, High School AU, M/M, Modern AU, New Kid AU, high school parties, new kid!richie, no shade eds love ya, slut!eddie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 11:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18992038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syndeyselmo/pseuds/syndeyselmo
Summary: Richie is new the kid that just moved from Chicago. Right away girls are obsessed with him. Why wouldn’t they? He’s very attractive, funny, tall, incredibly smart, he skates, he can roll a joint, and all around charming. But even with all the girls that throw themselves at him, he’s only got eyes at the one they call Princess Kaspbrak





	Princess Kaspbrak

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys enjoy

Richie Tozier walked in Derry High School on a Monday morning, a frown on his face and a skateboard tucked under his arm. In Chicago, he always skated his way to school, loving the city and the different people he saw every day. 

He used to walk to school with his sister Celia until she went off to college. She was now a sophomore at Northwestern, and he was a senior in high school. Ever since she had left, his walks to school became boring, but he had eventually made friends with the ones he saw regularly on the way to school. 

In Chicago, he had made friends with the homeless man a block from his family’s townhouse: Charlie and his dog Molly. Richie always brought him breakfast despite Charlie’s protests. It became a routine; he would greet them, give him his breakfast, pet Molly, and Richie would talk about what he was doing in school and the drama he heard or was caught up in. Charlie always wanted to know everything, and Richie, ever the chatterbox he, happily provided. Charlie was the sweetest man Richie had ever met. Charlie cried a little the last day Richie would go to school in Chicago.

After that, he would stop by the sandwich restaurant and get his lunch for later that day. Darius was always working in the morning and he would greet Richie by name, already having his sandwich ready to go when he walked in. Darius was a senior in college. He had thick black rimmed glasses like the ones Richie wore, and dark skin under large muscles. Richie always had a little crush on him. Their farewell wasn’t as hard as his and Charlies, but Richie still misses him. 

After getting his sandwich, he skated to his best friend Jada’s house where they walked the rest of the way to school together. There there was never a dull moment with their two extroverted personalities. She was beautiful, and Richie would always remind her. She had perfect white teeth, long lashes, and flawless olive skin. Not as dark as Darius’, but much darker than Richie’s pale complexion. She had a long loose afro, that always flowed easily in the wind. Jada was the first person he came out as bisexual to. They had a beautiful friendship.

They would both meet up with their other best friend, Aaron, at school. He was a boy that was just as outgoing as the other two. He was just as pale as Richie, athletic, and very handsome. They all loved each other a lot. Richie always suspected Jada and Aaron loved each other in a different way, but never said anything, letting them figure it out for themselves.

It was at a regular Friday night sleepover when he told them he was leaving. They were also there the day he left. Richie doesn’t think he’s ever cried more in his whole life. Jada and Aaron would say the same thing, as they both held each other and quietly sobbed as the Tozier’s drove off to Derry, Maine.

He didn’t understand what was so important that they had to move immediately, once school had already started. Why couldn’t they wait till after he finished high school? It was less than one school year. Richie could’ve gone to college, settling at the University of Illinois in Chicago, or Northwestern like his sister was. They wait a few months and then his parents could move away to Maine and his Dad could enjoy his new job without his son.

The move had been very hard for Richie. He hadn’t said too much to his parents since they arrived in their new house in Maine. His walk to school was too boring in the suburban neighborhood. He wanted to be in the city where he could be free and with his friends. 

He was dreading school. He didn’t want to introduce himself to a hundred new people in one day. But maybe he could find more than two friends here. 

Richie took a deep breath and walked towards the office. A few people looked at him as he walked. A small town like this probably doesn’t get many new people, he thought. 

He took a look at everyone in the hallway. Most people he saw were dressed nicely, like they were going to the country club. Extremely plain, but still nice. Richie looked down at what he was wearing. Black vans, black skinny jeans, and a white band tee overtop a black long sleeve shirt. Fuck, he really stood out compared to the pristine kids in polo shirts.

He stepped into the office. “Um, hi. I’m Richie Tozier. I’m the new student here.” 

The lady looked up from the old computer with a smile. “Oh hi! Yes, Richard right?” she asked looking through a messy stack of papers, pulling one out and handing it to him. “That is your schedule. I think one of the students with one similar is coming to walk you to your classes and giving you a tour and all that fun stuff,” she told Richie with a smile while he fought to roll his eyes. “You can sit right there and wait because you’re a couple of minutes early.”

He nodded and sat on the bench for about three seconds before a girl with bright red hair burst through the door. They made eye contact and both smiled. 

She was wearing a light blue long sleeve shirt, a button-down jean skirt, despite the temperature, and white sneakers with red laces. She had several rings on, and three necklaced on. Her red hair was short and curled around the edges. She was beautiful.

She walked up to him and exclaimed, “Hi! I’m Beverly Marsh and you’re Richard right?” 

“Um, Richie,” he stood up and smiled. “Oh!” he accidentally let out when he was embraced in a hug. 

“It’s good to see someone who’s more out there,” Beverly said gesturing to his clothes. “People here seem to be a little plain. But you’ll probably fit in with my friends nicely. We’re all a little different in our own ways. I’ll introduce you to them during lunch.” 

Beverly’s personality stood out. Richie wouldn’t be surprised if other’s were often overwhelmed with how enthusiastic she was, but this was exactly how Jada and Aaron were. All three were Richie’s type of people. He smiled. “Alright, perfect.”

“Cool! Let’s get to class. Can I see your schedule?” Richie handed it to her and they started walking out of the office. “Sweet, we have AP chem together first period with Ben, not homeroom though, but it doesn’t matter because you really can go anywhere you want for homeroom the teachers couldn’t care less,” she explained quickly. “Then we have AP Lit together with Bill and Eddie. We’ll have lunch after that. Then APUSH? Damn, that’s like the hardest class you can take here. And AP Spanish 4 wow, you’re really smart.” She smiled up at him, and he returned the smile. “Thank you.” 

“It looks like we have a free period tomorrow too. Eddie has it then too.” She had a small little smirk on her lips. “He’ll like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean Miss Marsh?” He looked down at her with a curious smile. She didn’t answer, just continued on with a big grin on her face.

-

Chemistry was boring. A few kids came up to him and greeted him with smiles. He also noticed the table of girls that gave him a few glances, whispering and giggling to each other. 

Ben was super nice though. He took an immediate liking to him. He was a football player and also Beverly’s boyfriend, but he was super humble and actually sorta shy. The two made a great couple.

“Alright, now homeroom. Like I said earlier, the teachers don’t really care where you go as long as you check in first, so we can walk you there and then leave immediately. Our group doesn’t usually hang out altogether during this time because of relationships or sports or clubs or cliques or whatever. Ben,” she said putting a hand over his chest, “usually goes with Mike and the football team to go over plays or something.” 

Ben pulled her in by the waist and kissed the top of her head lovingly. They really are cute together, Richie thought.

“And you can come to meet Stan and Bill where we usually are. Most times Bill doesn’t come because he’s with his girlfriend Audra, but he should be with us today; I texted him to. Eddie comes most times but some days he’s making up work for a class, and some days he’s flirting with the varsity basketball team, you never really know.” She and Ben laughed. Not in a rude way, but almost in a loving way. They seemed like they were all close. 

They walked to Richie’s homeroom teacher and introduced himself. Bev was a smooth talker, quickly stating that he didn’t have much time to meet other students because she was giving him a tour. 

She kissed Ben goodbye and then they were off. They walked down a few halls, giving a quick tour of which classes were what, and which subjects were typically taught in what hallways. They made it to what Richie assumes is the band room, and into a large closet with a piano and cupboards filled with large instruments. He walked in and saw one boy with perfect posture and springy golden hair sitting in one of the plastic chairs, and another boy standing up throwing a tennis ball against the wall. 

“This is the band room. None of us are in the band but the teacher is super nice and never pays us any attention. Like none at all. We’ve smoked in here countless time.” She shut the door behind them.

“So this is Stan,” she said referencing to the boy in the chair, “and this is Bill,” referencing to the boy standing up.

“N-nice to meet you, Richie!” Bill said. Stan was looking at him with a small, noticeably forced smile. “Hi,” he said.

“Where’s Eddie?” Bev asked. Stan snickered. “Probably making out with Miller Cook again.” Bill laughed at that.

“Wow, Eds sounds like quite the character from what I’ve heard,” Richie said.

“He is,” Bill said. The rest of homeroom the three gave Richie a run through of the school telling him about the popular kids, the bullies, the good teachers, the bad teacher, and anyone with current drama. Richie thought he had made some pretty good friends by the end of it. 

When the bell rung he, Bev, and Bill made their way to English class. They talked about the teacher and how rude she was; Richie could tell she was not going to be fond of him.

They walked in. Richie noticed all of the other students were in table groups of four. He would guess that you could pick where you wanted to sit, given that all the groups clearly had their own clique. Right when they walked in, he noticed there was a group of girls practically wearing the same thing, all huddled around whispering and looking at Richie with giddish expressions. He winked at them and followed Bill and Bev, hearing little giggles behind him.

He sat next to Bill who was seated across from Bev. The teacher paid no extra attention to him. Right after the bell rung, the teacher went to close the door and start her lesson but was interrupted by a small boy slipping into the classroom. “Sorry, Dr. Brown! I was finishing work for another class and was kept a little later than I should’ve,” the small voice said. 

Richie looks up and sees the cutest, most attractive boy he’d ever seen. His mouth parted a little in awe.

“That’s alright Eddie, just take your seat. We’re about to start,” the teacher said. “Yes ma’am” he heard Eddie say quickly. He sat next to Bev, directly across from Richie, who still, was having a small seizure. 

Bill leaned across the table to whisper teasingly at Eddie, “So what class were you doing work for, Eddie?”

“Are you studying blowjobs today, or just kissing?” Beverly asked snickering. Eddie grew slightly flustered and gave Beverly a dismayed expression, smacking her arm. “Shut up Bev! Oh my god! I hate both of you,” Eddie grumbled. Richie chuckled at all of them, very amused, getting the attention of Eddie who’s cheeks grew even pinker when he saw Richie sitting there. 

“Oh! You’re Richie right?” he asks. Richie smiled, liking the way it sounded on Eddie’s lips. “Mhm,” he hummed with a dazed expression. Eddie smiled at him tilting his head down a little, making himself look innocent and shy. “I’m Eddie,” he said.

“Hello there, Eds.” Richie didn’t miss that Eddie’s lips where slightly red and swollen.

Beverly looked at the two boys, then to Bill, wearing a shit-eating smile. Bill looked at her with raised eyebrows, smug and knowingly. Richie was way more vocal when meeting the others; now he was suddenly quiet and dazed.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, are we ready to start learning? I know that getting to know the new student is fun but we still have a lesson to learn,” the teacher told them. 

English wasn’t actually that bad. They were given some free time to work on their essays, and Beverly, Bill, and Eddie loved to bicker at each other, so it made class pretty entertaining. The girls at the front table kept looking at Richie, but he didn’t care; his eyes were on someone else. 

An hour and a half later, the bell rung signaling it was time for lunch. Bill and Eddie and Beverly went off to their lockers together while Richie went to speak to the teacher who was properly introducing herself and giving him his syllabus for the class. 

“Alright, Richie you have a good lunch.” she bid him. 

“Thanks, Dr. Brown,” he said looking at the form she gave him. He turned around, immediately running into one of the girls from the front table. “Oh!” he said putting a hand on her shoulder to keep from falling over. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

The girl placed a steady hand on Richie’s arm that was on her shoulder. He let it fall to his side. Looking behind her he noticed the other three girls from the front table were there too.

The girl laughed, it was soft and kittenish; it was cute. “No problem, sorry for running into you Richie.” 

Richie’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “How do you know my name?” he asked. 

“Everybody knows your name, Richie. We don’t get a lot of new people here. You’re practically the most popular kid in school.” She leaned in closer and grabbed his bicep, lightly pulling him towards the door. “Come, we’ll walk you to lunch so you don’t get lost.”

“Well thank you miss,” Richie said kindly smiling at her. She giggled. “My name’s Gracie by the way. And this is Jamie, Nichole, and Sam.” She pointed at the other girls who politely waved.

“Welcome to the absolute most boring town of all time,” Jamie said sarcastic smile. 

“It’s not that bad James, at least nothing awful happens here,” Nichole said. 

Sam spoke up with a coy grin, “I can think of one. Or someone, really.”

“Oh nevermind, that’s true,” Nichole said grinning at Sam.

Richie spoke up now, curious. “Who?”

Sam and Nicole looked at each other, then back to Richie, before saying at the same time, “Princess Kaspbrak.” They laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. “What a bitch” Jamie said joining in laughing. Richie looked down to see Gracie with a big grin on her face. Why the hell do girls find it so fun to make fun of other girls? Richie thought. He looked up and saw they had reached the lunchroom. 

Gracie looked up, still with a smile on her face, touched Richie’s arm again. “Would you like to sit with us at lunch, Richie?”

He gently removed her hand from his arm, “Sorry ladies I actually am already am sitting with some other people. Thanks for the invite though.”

Gracie leaned in closer, standing a little on her tiptoes, nodding towards jaw so she could whisper in his ear, voice coquettish, “Hmm, see? I told you you were the most popular guy in school.” She backed up. “We’ll see you around,” and with that, they walked over to their own table that already had two other girls seated. 

Richie glanced across the lunchroom to see Bill, Bev, Ben, Stan, and another dark-skinned boy were seated. Where’s Eddie? Does he not eat with them? He became sadder than he’d like to admit at that.

The group was seated at a rectangular table towards the back of the lunchroom. Ben, Beverly, another guy, and Stan were sitting on one side, and Bill was on the other. Richie came up to them and sat next to Bill. 

“Richie!” Beverly squealed. He laughed at her excitement. “Hey, guys.”

“Rich, this is Mike Hanlon. You’ve met everyone now I think,” she said. Mike smiled. He had a beautiful bright smile with straight white teeth. 

“How’re you liking Derry so far?” Ben asked.

“It’s pretty good so far actually. I have to admit I thought it was going to be awful, but you guys are making it a lot better.” 

They all cooed. “Aww how sweet,” Bill said.

“Do you have any questions so far? Heard any gossip yet?” Bev asked. Richie thought before asking, something that he didn’t do often. The other girls didn’t give him much information about it, so who better than to ask than the people who have only shown him kindness since he arrived.

“Um, yes actually. Who is Princess Kaspbrak?”  
They looked at each other grinning, and Stan actually laughed out loud. “Oh, Princess Kaspbrak is a slut,” he said. Richie was a little shocked they were talking shit about her too.

Bev cut in, “I’ve heard Princess Kaspbrak has slept with half the guys in the school.”

“All the girls throw mad shade because of it,” Bill said. 

“Yeah, he practically runs the school,” Ben said. Richie’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the pronoun. He? Princess Kaspbrak is a boy? Then Mike spoke up pointing his fork towards Richie, “But most importantly, he’s our best friend so we better not catch you talking shit about him.” 

Then he heard someone clear their throat behind him and turned towards it. It was Eddie. “You bitches talking about me again? All bad things I hope.” He sat next to Richie who was staring at him in awe. “Only the worse Princess,” Mike said. 

“You’re Princess Kaspbrak??” Richie yelled.

“The one and only babe,” Eddie said with a wink and Richie lost it at that. Holy fuck. The two made eye contact. Richie's mouth went up in a dopey smile. The rest of the group saw Richie’s expression. Eddie messed around a lot, and not many respected him, so to see someone, in the moment, possibly catching feelings for the boy? They could help but break out in smiles. They don’t talk to him about it, but they knew that Eddie would need a rock sooner or later. 

“So Eddie, why are you late?” Stan said with a grin. Eddie broke eye contact with Richie to glance at Stan. “I was, um, solving things out with Miller…” he said slowly, looking down at his soup. 

“Again? You just saw him in homeroom,” Bill said. Mike and Bev snickered.

Eddie stammered, “Wha- okay, look. We weren’t doing anything just now besides talking. He just… invited me over tonight.” An uneasy feeling grew in Richie: jealousy. Oh my God, what do you even have to be jealous of you’ve known him for an hour, so what if he has a boyfriend? 

“And why would you assume I was making out with Miller during homeroom? I could’ve been with someone else.” Oh, maybe he doesn’t have a boyfriend lol.

Mike deadpans, “Eddie. You’re a hoe but at least you have the decency to move from one person at a time. 

Eddie snarled, “Okay look it’s not even like we’re dating. We just… makeout sometimes,” he shrugged. “I don’t even like him he’s just hot.” He looked grumpy. Richie thought he looked adorable.

“And anyway,” Ben said, “you’ve been talking about Miller for the past week, so we just gotta assume.”

Richie was so happy; the group talked normally as if Richie had been friends with them for years. The conversation shifted from Eddie’s love life to a party on Friday to Greta Bowie and Henry Bower’s breakup, the former head couple of the school because they had been dating since freshman year. Then they were back to Richie, where he was from, and what his life in Chicago was like.  
Then they gave Richie background information on them. He learned that Ben was the last one to join the group when he had moved to Derry sophomore year, which was also the year he and Bev started dating. Ben and Mike were both on the varsity football team, Bill played soccer, and Eddie was a runner. 

He also learned that they call themselves ‘The Losers Club’, and had since 8th grade because they were all different. A group of completely different people that were all made fun of as kids; no one would think they would be friends, yet they get along together better than any high school group of friends he’s ever seen. Him, Jada, and Aaron were all extroverts; that’s what made them come together. But, their personalities collided sometimes, ending in arguments or annoying bickering. The losers club wasn’t like that, they were balanced. He left the lunchroom high on the feeling of friendship; he knew he had found something special.  
-  
AP US History was boring and confusing because his class in Chicago was a couple of chapters behind them a bit. The teacher introduced him to the whole class which Richie didn’t actually mind; he liked the attention if he was being honest. He also noticed a few other girls kept checking him out. 

When he walked into Spanish class, it was loud and full. He saw a large group of jocks standing around at a table of girls who were sitting down, looking up and laughing at them. 

He greeted the teacher and she quieted the class down, getting everyone to their seats. She put Richie at an emptier table towards the back corner. 

“Hi,” he heard a voice said. It was the girl across from him. “You’re Richie right?” Her voice was almost mono-toned, different from the flirty voices he had heard throughout the day from other girls.

“Yes ma’am,” he said in said with a smile. “Cool, I’m Greta.” Oh, that’s the girl who just had a breakup. “You’re cute,” she continued. “How many girls have tried to hit on you?” Her face was grim. He rubbed the back of his neck, “Uh, ha, just a couple.”

“I figured.” Richie couldn’t figure her out. It was like she wanted to know about Richie but didn’t want to have a conversation, or she was jealous but also didn’t care. His thoughts were interrupted by a deep voice from a couple of tables away. “Oh, it’s the new kid!” Richie looked up and was immediately looking at another student from across the room. He had dry, dirty blond hair that curled at his ears and a little acne on his cheeks. He was wearing a grey sweatshirt with a large flannel over it along with khaki pants and sneakers. He was rather big too, clearly an athlete. 

If you ask Richie it was rather rude to put him on the spot like that. Everyone looked at him and he suddenly felt wary under everyone’s stares. 

The teacher turned around a spoke up. “Yes, it is, Miller!” Oh okay. So this is the guy that Eddie’s been making out with. “Everyone, this is our new student, Richard Tozier!” She was very peppy.

“I go by Richie, actually,” he said with a small smile.

“Oh! Well, Bienvenido, Richie!” she said. The rest of the class was relatively boring. Once the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, he packed his things and left the classroom with his skateboard in hand. He would remember not to bring it to school again; In Chicago, it wasn’t unusual to carry around a board all day, but people were looking at it as if he was carrying a baby. 

Before Richie can get too far out of the room, he heard the same deep voice from the beginning of class, calling his name. Before he could turn around Miller had caught up with him and started walking with him. “Oh hey, um, Miller right?” Richie asked. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m Miller Cook. I wanted to say sorry for putting you on the spot like that at the beginning of class I wasn’t thinking.” Oh. Miller gave off this douchey vibe, and it was surprising that he was apologizing to him. “Oh, it’s not a problem man, don’t worry about it.” 

“Ah, good. So, where did you move from?” he asked. He surprised Richie again by carrying out the conversation. “Chicago. My dad got a job here because someone died or something and they needed a replacement really quick. My mom was sick of living in the city so that’s why he took it.” 

“Damn, Chicago's big. Sucks you gotta move to Derry. Whats’ he do?”

“He’s a dentist,” Richie said. They were walking side by side through the hallways. They were almost eye level with each other, Richie slightly shorter, even standing at 6’1.

“Oh, nice. You guys probably have a nice house here,” Miller said. From what Richie could tell, Miller was really nice. “Hey, there’s a party at Henry’s house on Friday if you want to come. Probably not as good as the ones in Chicago, but since there’s like no people here, all upperclassmen are invited,” he said. “You know, except for the weird ones.” He grinned. Oh, there’s it is. “Uh yeah sure, I think I heard some of my um, friends talking about it.”

“Oh have you already made friends? Which crowd?” Miller asked. 

“Like, Beverly Marsh and her boyfriend, Mike Hanlon, Stan Uris, Bill, um, something, and Eddie Kaspbrak,” he listed. 

“Ohh, yeah that’s a good group. They’ve been friends since like- middle school.” Richie nodded, “Yeah they said that.” 

“Have you heard much about Eddie? People call him Princess Kaspbrak around here because he’s so gay. He is sexy though there’s no denying. Like- three of my friends have banged,” Miller said laughing. 

Richie didn’t like the way he talked about Eddie. He chuckled lightly though, “Yeah, he’s cute,” he said.

“Anyways, hope you enjoy Derry. I gotta go to football practice but I’ll you later,” Miller said walking backward down the hall. He yelled slightly, “Hey, and I better see you at Henry’s! Your friends will know where he’s at.”

Richie continued walking for about eight seconds before he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He looked down to see Gracie’s blue eyes looking up at him. Her long blond hair was down, unlike earlier when it was in a ponytail. She also didn’t have her friends with her this time. “Hi Richie,” she said smiling shyly.

“Oh hey doll,” he replied with a smile. She giggled as they walked outside of the building, the chilly fall air hitting them as they walked. Maine sure did get cold fast. “How was your day?” Gracie asked him. He chuckled. Gracie was cute, and it was clear that she was developing a little crush on him. 

“It was good, thank you for asking,” Richie said. Gracie then said, “Good. So, you know there is this house party on Friday. This guy named Henry is hosting it. Are you going?”

“Yes, actually! Miller um, fuck,” What was his last name?

“Cook?” Gracie asked. Richie snapped his fingers and continued, “Yeah, him! He just invited me to it. I think I am going with Beverly Marsh and all of them.” he said. He then saw Beverly, Stan, Bill, and who he assumed was Audra, given that Bill was hugging her from the back and resting his chin on her head. 

“Cool, I’ll see you there,” she said biting her lip, looking up at Richie, and lightly dragging her pointer finger on the arm that was holding his board. Then she walked away. Richie walked to the other losers.

“Ooh, is Gracie Bell hitting on you, Richie?” Bev teased as he walked towards the group. Apparently, they saw that. “Maybe,” he said. “She was telling me about that party that some guy named Henry is throwing.”

“Are we really going to that?” Stan asked grudgingly. “Yes, we are!” Bev exclaimed. “It’s the perfect way to let Richie get to know people. Like actually know people, instead of their fake personas you get when they’re introducing themselves.”

“Are you talking about just Gracie?” Stan asked smugly. 

“I’m talking about everyone,” Bev said. “But look, she has a bitch side, okay. I’ve witnessed it first hand.”

“I would be careful Richie,” Audra spoke up. “All she did was talk about you at lunch today.” Richie’s eyebrows raised at that. Okay, maybe a bigger crush then I originally thought. “Really?” he asked. 

“Oh, yeah. Talking about how hot you were, how she loved your voice, how you winked at her, how you touched her when you ran into her. She’s catchin’ some major feels.” 

“God Richie, what did you do to make her so obsessed?” Stan asked. 

Richie looked baffled. “I don’t know! After English class, I stayed back to get the syllabus from Dr. Brown and when I turned around she was right behind me! She was so close that I ran into her and almost fell so I held her shoulder so I, you know, wouldn’t,” 

“Jesus Christ! She’s so dramatic. She was going on and on about how you grabbed her waist and how your faces were so close.” Audra huffed. Bill chuckled at how fed up she was and kissed the top of her head to calm her down. 

Richie looked a bit put off. “Yeah, that’s definitely not what happened,” he said and Stan snorted.

“Can we walk while we talk about this? It’s cold,” Beverly said. Richie asked, “Wait where are we going?”

Beverly laughed. “We always go to my house after school since my Aunt is cool with whatever. Mike and Ben have football and Eddie has cross country right now, so it’s just us. Eddie and Ben usually come after practice and hang out, but that’s in two hours. Mike always gives them a ride in his truck but he lives farther away and his grandfather usually wants him home sooner. And Audra and Bill will leave in about an hour for their soccer practice since they don’t play for the school. God knows this fucking school can’t afford more than one field.”

Bill and Audra laughed and started walking, holding hands while they did. Richie asked, “How long have you two been dating?” 

“Three months,” Bill said. Stan looked at Richie and deadpanned, “They’re in the honeymoon phase.”

“What does that mean?” he asked. Bev cut in, “It means they can’t take their fucking hands off each other. They’re always hugging or kissing or holding hands, or doing something where they’re touching.”

Audra giggled and went up to kiss Bill. They got to Bev’s house in fifteen minutes. “Oh I think this is only a few blocks from my house,” Richie said. 

“Most of the houses here are pretty close. There’s like four neighborhoods here,” Audra said.

Beverly smiled at Richie. “Stan and Eddie live pretty close too. We usually walk to school together if you want to join us. We meet at Stan’s since he’s the closest to the school.”

“Cool. I’ll do that.” Richie was so happy he had found friends that were so inclusive, like they genuinely wanted to be his friends. 

Beverly unlocked the door and they all walked in. “No one’s home right now but Aunt Jen will be here in like an hour”, she explained. They made their way to the kitchen grabbing snacks then around to Bev’s room. They all pulled out their homework but never really got around to doing it. They just talked and ate snacks. Soon 45 minutes went by and Bill and Audra had to go. About 20 minutes after that they heard the front door open. “Bev? Stan? You guys home?” he heard. 

“Yeah, we’re in my room!” Beverly replied. “Come on I’ll introduce you, Richie.” They all got up and walked down the hall to see a woman with the same red hair up in a messy bun, carrying a few bags of groceries. She was turned around putting some of the food in the fridge. When she spun around and saw Richie standing there, she asked, “Oh! Who is this?” She was smiling and had her hands on her hips.

“This is Richie Tozier, he’s new in town,” Beverly explained. “Nice to meet you,” Richie said to her. “Oh well of course! It’s nice to meet you too Richie. You can call me Aunt Jen.” Richie kept smiling.

“Well, I’m making dinner right now. Are Ben and Eddie coming over?” Aunt Jen asked.

“Ben is. Eddie is going to some guys house tonight to do God knows what.” She and Stan shared a mischievous look trying not to crack up. “Lord, that child,” Aunt Jen said. Not judgy or disapproving, almost with a loving undertone. Richie could immediately tell that Aunt Jen was like a mother figure to not only Bev but to the rest of the losers as well. 

“Richie, dear, are you staying for dinner too?” she asked turning around and smiling at him. “Um, no I don’t think so. My parents are probably wondering where I am because I never texted them,” he said. He hadn’t been using his phone at all this afternoon. Richie continued, “I should probably get home pretty soon actually. Thank you for the invite though.” 

“Actually Aunt Jen, my parents wanted me home a little earlier too,” Stan said politely. Without turning around she replied, “Alright, well I’ll see you boys later then. It was nice meeting you, Richie.” The two walked down the hall and retrieved their stuff. They left saying goodbye to Bev and then walking home together. 

-

The conversation was dry and the atmosphere was awkward. Richie could get the sense that Stan kept more to himself with people he didn’t know well, and he was determined to change that between the two. 

“So, how long have you been friends with everyone?” he asked, regripping the skateboard that was under his arm. Stan didn’t smile at him all the time as Bev did, he noticed. “Well I was born in Eastport, Maine, but for whatever reason, my parents didn’t really like it there. It was probably the people there, not making friends and all, I guess. So we moved an hour further away here. This was when I was in 3rd grade. Bill and Eddie were already friends,” he chuckled looking back at the memory. “I remember hearing Eddie scream at Bill for getting his hands dirty and them trying to touch him. We both like to be clean, that’s what really started the friendship.

“We started hanging out with Bev in 5th grade. For some reason none of the girls ever wanted to be friends with her, she was too poor for the other preppy kids in this town. That was when she was living with her Dad though. Later she started living with her Aunt and her living situation got much better. She’s also actually very popular now, and not because of the money. Everyone just realized she’s cool as fuck,” Stan said. Richie smiled and said, “Yeah, she is cool as fuck.” Stan grinned.

“We hung out with Mike practically all Summer long since he was homeschool and we never saw him during the school year. We all loved him, he was the coolest kid ever to us, different from what we were used to seeing,” Stan laughed, “I’m pretty sure Bev and Eddie had a crush on him for a little while. Well, I know Eddie did, Mike was practically his sexual awakening. Anyways, everyone else also found how cool he was when they met him freshman year of high school; his grandfather was getting too old to teach him well, and he could join the football team if he went to school. He made it, obviously, and now he’s the star of the school. And now, even in our senior year, he’s still the kind and genuine boy we met in summer before middle school.”

Richie looked at him carefully. He was usually wasn’t an observant person, but something about the way Stan talked about Mike compared to any of the others was different. He viewed him differently, in a special way. So, Richie being Richie, said what was on his mind. 

“Do you like him?”

Richie almost broke down in laughter when he saw Stan’s perplexed and horrified face. “Wh-what? H-how did you know?” he stammered. 

Richie shrugged. “I dunno I could just tell by the way you talked about him. He’s obviously special to you, in a different way from the others.” Stan just let out a soft sigh. 

“I guess Mike wasn’t just Eddie’s sexual awakening,” Richie said. Stan rolled his eyes huffed out, “Oh please, mine was Bill back in freshman year.”

“That’s cool. I'm bisexual you know? I didn’t have a specific person that made me realize though, I just kinda knew. I did always have a small crush on his guy that worked in this sandwich place though, he is a college student,” Richie spit out. Stan looked at him with raised eyebrows before turning away. 

They continued walking in silence for a minute before Stan blurted out, “How did you do that? You just came out to a stranger voluntarily, without hesitation.”

“Well first I didn’t want you to think I was judging you, and being able to relate can take away a lot of the uncomfortableness. Second, I just don’t really care,” Richie said nonchalantly. Stan stopped walking and looked intensely at Richie-who had also stopped walking. He hummed and nodded his head. 

“Interesting. Um, anyways. Ben moved here in 10th grade, but you already knew that. This is my house, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Stan said still looking in Richie’s eyes, trying to read him. “Do you know your way from here?”

“Yeah, I can figure it out,” Richie said. “Bye, Stan.” Stanley waved and walked in his house, leaving Richie alone. He took one wrong turn, but it didn’t take long to get home since he was riding his skateboard instead of walking. We walked in through the front door and took off his shoes. 

“Mom! Dad! I’m home!” he yelled as he walked to the kitchen where his parents where. Maggie Tozier was unloading a couple of the boxes left that held large kitchen appliances while her husband, Wentworth, was hugging her from behind. There was one thing Richie, but not many others could say: his parents really were in love, even after 19 years. 

“Hey, honey!” Maggie said turned around, dragging her husband along with her. “How was your first day?” 

He sighed, “It was fine I guess. I made friends though and they’re all really nice.” Maggie’s face lit up at that. “Oh yay!” 

“Did you meet any ladies?” Went asked, smirking. Maggie hit his arm which was still was wrapped around her waist. 

“Yeah I met a few,” Richie trailed off. Richie wasn’t out to his parents yet. He didn’t know why, he’s sure that they’ll be accepting, but it’s scary. He doesn’t care about other people knowing, even his sister knows, but parents are different. His parents don’t understand him very well and this is just another thing that would add to the list. He’d tell them when he was ready. 

“Well we ordered pizza for dinner it should be here soon,” Maggie said, “I would try to make something but I can’t find a goddamn thing with all these boxes.” Wentworth laughed.

“I’m gonna go upstairs and unpack some more,” he said. Maggie gave him the tiniest smile and said in a soft voice, “Okay.”

He made his way upstairs and tossed backpack on the floor and himself on the bed. He pulled out his phone and saw a few texts from Aaron and Jada and immediately sat up. Before he could read them he got a facetime alert from Jada. He accepted quickly, a smile starting on his face.

“Richie!!” he heard Jada say. “Aye Richie!” he also heard Aaron say. They were together in what looked like Jada’s room, homework and pizza spread out around them. 

“Hey, guys!” Richie was instantly smiling wider than he had at all in the past week. After packing all of his stuff, saying goodbye to his friends, spending way too much time with his parents, and meeting an overwhelming amount of people, seeing his best friends made him feel happier than ever.

“How was your first day?” Jada asked, very eager. Richie chuckled, “Um it was pretty good. Made some friends they’re all really nice.” He then leaped into his day and everyone he met, Jada demanding he tells them everything. He told them about each of the losers and Bev’s aunt and Gracie and Miller and the party he was invited too. They both got excited about the party and asked him to go to see if it was as wild as the ones in the city. After that, they both updated him on the drama that had happened at school and that their least favorite teacher announced she was pregnant and would miss three months in the spring. 

He was in the middle of telling them the story of how he found out about Princess Kaspbrak, and how it turned out to be Eddie when he heard the doorbell ring. 

“Richie! Pizza’s here!” his mother yelled from downstairs. He yelled back, “One second!” then turned back to his phone screen where Jada’s face filled the screen. 

“Anyways, they were all saying ‘Princess Kaspbrak is a slut’, and ‘yeah Kaspbrak has slept with half the guys in the school’ and then Mike was like ‘but don’t hurt him because he’s our best friend’ and I was like, ‘What? He?’ then I turned around and Eddie is right behind me and he goes ‘you bitches talking bad about me?’ and yeah so it turned out that Princess Kaspbrak wasn’t a girl, but a very gay boy.”

“What the fuck?” he heard Aaron laugh from behind the phone. 

Jada laughed at him. “So the entire school just calls him Princess Kaspbrak because he’s gay?”

“Well, I think it’s more about his personality and stuff. Like I think it’s true that he sleeps around with a lot of guys and he’s pretty short and dresses kinda gay and he’s honestly hella cute. And an odd amount of popular guys have slept with him which is why most of the girls don’t like him,”

“That’s still fucking weird,” he heard Aaron say, though could not see him. Richie let out a loud laugh. 

“Well it didn’t seem like he minded being it so I don’t see the harm,” Jada said. 

“No, yeah I don’t think he minds. He was oddly confident; he called me babe at lunch,” Richie said, and Jada wiggled his eyebrows and smirked.

“I don’t think his friends would tease him if he took it as an insult,” Aaron said. 

He then heard his mom yell at him again, “Richie! Come down before it gets cold!” Richie groaned. “I got to go, I talk to you later.” Jada and Aaron said bye and he walked down the stairs to the kitchen grabbing two pieces at a time. He gave his parents a brief review of his day before going back upstairs, taking a shower, and putting a clean pair of boxers on. He sat in bed on his phone before he saw that his sister was calling. He groaned internally before answering it; he loved his sister so much but if he had to tell another person about how his day went he was going to jump out the window. 

“Hey, Celia,” he said, voice low and bored. She responded, “Hey Rich. How was your first day?”

“Fuuuuck,” he said, turning on his side. Celia let out a loud laugh. “What’s wrong?”

“I so sick of that question, I just wanna go to bedddd,” he said dragging out the last word. Celia just chuckled again, “Tough then?” 

“No it was fine, good actually,” he said. 

“Okay then you can go to bed in a minute, did anything interesting happen?” she said. He grunted. “I made some good friends, one girl already has a crush on me, and I was invited to a party on Friday. Happy?”

Celia chuckled again. “Okay thank you. Don’t do anything stupid at the party, and tell me about that girl later,” Richie just hummed. “How are Mom and Dad?” 

“Fine. They seem happy, they really like the house,” he replied. Celia hesitated for a moment before asking, “Do you?” 

He sighed, “Yeah the house is nice. A lot bigger than our old one. Just don’t like the suburbs as much.”

“Well, it’s only a year. Hang in there, then you can come right back and go to college here,” she said trying to bring light to the situation. Richie didn’t answer. Celia let out a loud sigh and said, “Okay, well you can go to bed now. I hope you learn to like it there. Night, Rich.”

“Night, Cel,” he mumbled before hanging up. He turned off his phone and the bedside light, settling under the covers. He went to bed thinking out the city he missed so much.

**Author's Note:**

> next chapter might come next week, leave some comments telling me what you think!! you can yell at me on my tumblr @tozierbinch


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